Public Transportation: Use of Contractors is Generally Enhancing Transit Project Oversight, and FTA is Taking Actions to Address Some Stakeholder Concerns Page: 24 of 42
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program has provided FTA with a better understanding of the issues
surrounding complex construction projects and an increased awareness of
potential problems that could lead to schedule delays or cost increases.
PMOCs and FMOCs also provide FTA with additional expertise. Since the
inception of its Project Management Oversight program, FTA has
supplemented its own staff as well as used the expertise of PMOC staff,
and later, FMOC staff, who have specialized areas of expertise beyond that
of most FTA staff, to help oversee New Starts projects. Since the New
Starts program has grown significantly while FTA's staff size has stayed
the same, FTA officials have used these oversight contractors to help
compensate for this human resource gap. For example, FTA officials noted
that while PMOCs are not FTA employees, the PMOCs help serve as FTA's
"eyes and ears" at project sites.
Finally, in addition to oversight services, PMOCs occasionally provide
technical assistance on behalf of FTA to project sponsors. Such assistance
may include providing information and instruction in project management
and project analysis practices, or sharing technical expertise in transit
project design and construction. In the course of providing oversight,
PMOCs are to notify FTA about any opportunities for project sponsors to
benefit from technical assistance. FTA officials stated that New Starts
projects have benefited from the technical assistance that PMOCs and
FMOCs provided to project sponsors. However, while PMOCs and FMOCs
can provide technical assistance in the form of examples or best practices,
project sponsors are responsible for deciding how to proceed. For
example, FTA assigned a PMOC to provide guidance to a project sponsor
to help clarify safety requirements. As part of this process, the PMOC
provided the project sponsor with examples of best practices used to meet
safety requirements. The project sponsor used these best practices to
resolve its safety issues and noted that having access to the PMOC and its
specialized skills provided clarity and helped resolve the safety issue
quickly.GAO-10-909 Public Transportation
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Public Transportation: Use of Contractors is Generally Enhancing Transit Project Oversight, and FTA is Taking Actions to Address Some Stakeholder Concerns, report, September 14, 2010; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc302031/m1/24/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.